Penn Claims 7th Straight Ivy Title in OT vs. No. 17 Princeton

PHILADELPHIA – It was everything a Penn-Princeton game for an Ivy League title should be. In a game which never had a lead of more than two goals and was tied five times, Penn went to one of its blossoming stars in overtime, and Shannon Mangini delivered the game-winning goal in a 10-9 win for the Quakers to secure at least a share of a seventh consecutive Ivy League championship.

The win rewrites the Penn records books. The Quakers have extended their nation-best consecutive conference championship streak to seven years in a row. In the process, women's lacrosse has set a new record for consecutive Ivy titles by a women's program at Penn, breaking a tie with women's fencing (1982-83 to 1987-88) and moved into a tie for second among all Penn athletic programs. The Red and Blue are also now tied with the 1987-93 Harvard women's lacrosse teams for the longest run of Ivy titles in League history.

Another positive result from the win? The Quakers will host the Ivy League Tournament at Franklin Field on May 3 and May 5. Penn is the only school to host the Ancient Eight's postseason tournament, earning the top seed all four years.

The Quakers would not be in this position without a resilient game symbolic of their entire season. The Red and Blue did not lead until there was 21:29 to play in the game, and found themselves down by a pair of goals with 12:36 to play. A 2-0 run over the game's final 6:16 was needed to force overtime, Mangini foreshadowing her game-winning heroics with the tying goal at the 57:44 mark.

In overtime, Mangini had the ball in her stick multiple times. She drew a total of three free positions, needing the third one to break the tie. The first two eight-meter attempts were from bad angles, and Mangini made the right decision to pass up the shot twice. On the first, she stepped back and swung the ball around, eventually finding herself back where she started and was fouled. On the ensuing free position, she fed McKenzie Hunt whose shot was saved by Caroline Franke. Princeton cleared and had a chance to score in the waning seconds of the first three-minute period, but the Tigers turned the ball over with four seconds to go.

In the second three-minute stretch of overtime, Meg Markham won her only draw of the night to give Penn possession. The Quakers forced the issue, drawing a shooting space foul for Mangini to again attempt a free position. This one was from center hash and the junior scored her fourth free position of the game.

Princeton won the ensuing draw, giving itself a chance to tie. The Tigers waited for the perfect shot, and Liz Bannatine took one from 15 yards out and Lucy Ferguson came up with the biggest of her seven saves to keep Penn in the lead.

The game would not have been in overtime if not for Ferguson's sixth save of the night. In her first Penn-Princeton game, Ferguson was clutch as can be, denying Sarah Lloyd with four seconds left in regulation to preserve the 9-9 tie.

Penn found itself down, 2-0, just over six minutes into the game as Princeton maintained early possession. It took 4:51 for the Tigers to score their first goal, but Alexandra Bruno (free position) and Erin McMunn scored 1:25 apart to spot the Tigers the first of their two-goal leads.

The Quakers stormed back into the game with two goals in a span of 17 seconds. Meredith Cain scored Penn's first goal on an assist from Meg Markham before Caroline Bunting took a Nina Corcoran pass after Cain won the draw to tie the game for the first time.